Friday, July 07, 2017

Socialization Good News.

I know that sounds weird, but we've had some good things happen lately on the socialization front and I want to share. First, some background. Two of my 3 homeschooled kids are shy and they all 3 are introverts. (We sent our oldest introverted but not shy one to college 5 years ago in another state and now he is coming back here and is married). We have joked about the homeschool socialization cliche through the years, but it HAS kind of been an issue that I have had to work at. We live in a very isolated area with no close neighbors and our church is very small. We have joined various (3!) homeschool groups, put together a prom for our kids and I have put together this board game group especially to help my (now) young adults meet other people their age. It has been an effort and thankfully, we've finally got some regulars who are coming and spending time and some friendships are forming. With introverts, making friends is a slow process and it takes a lot of time. This week I was talking to 2 of the moms in this group and found out that their sons are going to be going to the same community college as my son! I'm very happy and excited about this and I'm glad we didn't decide to send him to the other community college in another town, at least for now. So anyway, my youngest son will be going to college with a couple of people he knows.

Also, I am thinking that having my oldest son and his wife coming here to live will be good for socialization because I think they will join a church and start networking and forming friendships here and then they will invite my 2 younger, shyer ones to join them. That's what I'm hoping for anyway.

A third bit of good socialization news is that the youngest two kids have joined a D&D group and are really enjoying that. It might turn out to be a good way for my daughter to meet young men as she is the only girl in the group, playing right into the Dungeons and Dragons stereotypes. She, being an artist, drew a picture of each persons character and gave it to them. I picture them going home and mentioning that a girl in their D&D group gave it to them and having their parents say not "Great art" or anything like that, but "There's a girl in your D&D group???" LoL.

If you're going to homeschool, remember to join some groups, go to 4H and reach out to others. If there is something that your kids are interested in, look into starting a group based around that. Invite others to your home or arrange, as we do, to meetup at the library or restaurants. Its good for the homeschool mom to meet and spend time with other homeschooling moms as well, so it's a win-win.

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Homeschooling Advice.

1. Try it. You might enjoy it. It might change your life. It might not be your thing, but you won't know if you don't ever try.

2. Find out what your state (or country) requires, the bare minimum. Do this and then with the rest of it, have fun with it. It doesn't have to be all serious and it doesn't have to look like the inside of a classroom. You're at home. Relax. Play. Read. Learn together. Enjoy your kids. They grow up way too fast.

3. Don't let a written curriculum boss you around. If it works, great. If it's not working for you, throw it out. If only parts of it work, use those and throw the rest out. It's not the boss of you. When shopping for curriculum, read reviews. Try to go somewhere where you can actually hold the book in your hands and look through it. Print out a sample day or week and try and implement it or borrow it before buying. It's kind of hit and miss buying books without being able to see them.

4. Find a homeschool support group. Or two. If you can't find one in real life, find one online. Get support where ever you can.

5. Make a mess now and then. Go outside and put some mentos in coke. Make alka-seltzer rockets. Make some great art. Make a timeline and a map. Grow some borax crystals. Use levers to lift things. Make a trebuchet out of whatever you can find around the house.

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The point of this blog.

"there is a theme, if you read, you'll get a growing conviction that homeschooling is a lifestyle that is worthwhile, that it is extremely good for kids and families, that it promotes bonding, is a personalized education that is superior to what you can get anywhere else for your kids, is fun and can be done even if you have a 400 track mind, no math skills (thankfully my husband does though), through working, job changes, bad hair days, home remodeling, deaths, illness, surgery, broken bones and various other things and it actually makes dealing with these things easier, not harder, than it was when we were in the public schools, because homeschooling is so incredibly flexible. That's the point I've been trying to make for the last 5 years or so."